Under My Skin

Under My Skin - Part 56

"Security is looking lively in the kitchen," said Will, following the security guard he found so familiar. "I'm going to check it out."

"Don't to anything drastic," said Reese through the com. "Cetz is still trying to get confirmation."

"I'll try not to," said Will.

"Or you could just come up with a good excuse," said Louis.

Will smirked, peeking through the window in the swinging kitchen door. The security guard was escorting someone in a tattered blue jacket through the exit leading to the loading dock. Rather than go through the kitchen, Will went around to a service entrance that led to the hotel's atrium and went over the gate. Dusk had fallen, most of the light around the Luvor produced by artistically sculpted street lights that fell in shadows between the separate buildings. He pressed his back to the bricked wall and approached the edge that turned towards the loading dock. One look around the edge and he reached for his gun under his vest.

The security guard was flat on the ground and the man in the blue jacket was being held by four men in suits, thrashing about like a bird trapped in a wire fence. Will got a look at the man's face, thin and hawk-nosed.

"Guys, I've found Palmer. He's been apprehended by four hostile men."

"Are they with Watch One?" asked Louis over the com.

One of the men took out a gun and pressed it to the underside of Palmer's chin. "Boss wants his virus back, you little shit."

"I already gave him the prototype."

One of the men punched Palmer in the gut, making the scientist double over, but the barrel of the gun pressed harder into his chin.

"Nope," said Will. "Definitely not with Watch One."

"Wait for backup," warned Louis.

"Then why is it missing?" said one of the men to Palmer. He held up a taser. "Look what we found with that guard. Wonder the kind of fun we can have with this?"

Palmer whimpered. "I tell you I don't have it."

"Really?" The gun was turned away and the taser jabbed into Palmer's leg, making him collapse on one knee. "How about now?"

"D-don't know."

The gun regained its place on Palmer's face. "You have until I count to five," said the suit. "One."

Will grimaced. "Louis, I don't have time to wait!"

Gun in hand and silencer attached, Will turned about the corner.

"Three."

Will fired, the bullet passing straight through the gunman's arm, making the gun pressed against Palmer fall. The men turned towards him. And they had their own guns.

"Will!" said Louis through the com. "Report."

Now Will felt like Bond in an action scene. A very intense one.

He just had to live through it.

"Oh, crap."

***

The light in the corner of Watch Two's Main Tech flickered again. With a growl of annoyance Grant tapped on his keyboard again bringing up the power grid systems for the whole Watch Two base. He followed the projection with a pen, tracing a line of electrical faults through the base. The power outages followed a path that led from the basement garage of the base to Med Tech. And now it was following back out again.

"Damn it!" hissed Grant. He tapped the keyboard, trying to access the security panels that caused the outages, but something was overriding his commands. He left the grid board and approached Cetz who was talking animatedly to Watch Mission Control on his headset, pacing back and forth in front of the Tech screen. Rachel was at the Surveillance desk with Olivia.

"We've got a problem," Grant said to Cetz.

"No now," said Cetz, waving his hand at Grant I annoyance.

"The Base has been compromised."

Rachel and Oliva looked up from the Surveillance feeds. Cetz halted his pacing and looked wide eyed at his friend. "How?"

"There's a power outage following a path down from Med Tech down to the garage."

"Massaru." Rachel got to her feet and sprinted towards Med Tech.

"Olivia, get up the cameras in the Med Tech corridors, and security down to the garage pronto," said Cetz. He turned his attention back to his headset. "Now, can we get mission authorization?"

A tense moment passed. "What do you mean we don't have probable cause? I just explained our evidence. I can't pull them now."

Rachel called in over the intercom, out of breath. "Massaru's room has been trashed, and he's gone."

***

There were times Will wondered why captives in movies didn't lend a helping hand to the hero when the hero was fighting off the bad guys. Flipping one of the suited men to crash into another, he found out why. Sometimes the captives were plain old cowards; like Doctor Palmer, crouching next to the building with his eyes wide open, doing nothing to help.

Louis was right, the guy was an idiot.

Will elbowed one man in the nose and brought his knee up to the man's gut, making him keel over. They had all been disarmed in one way or another, and he used the butt of his gun to maximize his jabs. He spun about for his next opponent only to find all four men on the ground. He smoothed down his vest and patted his hair. Somehow, his hair managed to stay in place and there wasn't a single spot on his tux. Oh yeah, life was good.

Will turned back to Palmer and put away his gun. "I guess I should thank you for not running away at least."

Palmer's eyes widened again and he pointed over Will's shoulder. "Um..."

Behind him a gun cocked.

"Freeze! Hands up where I can see them and turn around."

Will did so and found the security guard back on his feet in a puddle of shadow, worse for wear, his tux in disarray, and crouched over like his gut was a bunch of broken glass, but he held a gun pointed at Will. He must have picked it up from one of the fallen suits.

"Sir, I can explain this..." Will tilted his head, his brow furrowed. "Déjà vu."